3½ stars for this one! (Goodreads, can we institute a half star system at some point, please?)

I wanted to LOVE this book. In reality, it was more a like.

This is part two of an alternate universe Wizard of Oz Tale. Amy Gumm wound up in Oz, just like Dorothy, somewhat like the Wizard, starting off in Kansas and flying by a means into the crazy world. Also like Dorothy and the Wizard, magic seems to flourish for Amy these days, though I would rate her magic as something laying in wait for a meal.

The story itself is highly creative. I seriously want to like it–and this is all my own opinions…and maybe I missed something–but I couldn’t get a foothold.

There were a few parts I enjoyed:

1) When Amy met the Cowardly Lion…that was good. It was rather flat for me. I think I was expecting something major instead turning into something minor.

2) I really enjoyed the monkeys in the trees. It was like an Ewok village run by a host of smart-alecky Bobby Jack shirts. (If you don’t know, Bobby Jack is clothing that was big with us in 2010.)
The monkeys seemed like they shopped at Build-a-Bear and had dialogue written by a team of smart asses. It was amusing.

3) The rainbow world. Seriously it was 1980s revisited…a land of Rainbow Bright, smacking into adulthood.

Those parts were a little blip mountain in a land of flatline for me. Dorothy and Amy’s meet up should have been awesome and amazing…but Amy was more on everyone else’s battle. It wasn’t the only time that an event had a great opportunity to suck my breath away and it just…didn’t.

And I get that. As someone who writes first person most of the time, I know this insatiable need to tell every little detail of all the goings on. But, if you’re in the middle of a fight with someone, you aren’t going to take the time and watch everyone else’s battles going on and not pay attention to the one threatening your life. IRL, that’s not how it would work. Save it for a side story or an outtake. And I know…it’s one of the roughest things to do when writing…I so know that.

I hated that I couldn’t just love this. The story just crawled along when it should have been sprinting and running out of breath and slowing then sprinting again. *heavy sigh* Book one grew into such potential. It had a build. Book two is just flat. Here’s hoping book three brings it hard. I need a great ending to this tale!

*A SPRING CLEANING READ – APRIL 2016* – Can’t believe I am almost done with the books I planned to read. Yay!

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